Collision with terrain involving a Cessna 182, VH-AHC, 100 km south-west of Bourke, New South Wales, on 5 July 2015

What happened

On 5 July 2015, the pilot of a Cessna 182 aircraft, registered VH-AHC, conducted a local flight from a private airstrip about 100 km south-west of Bourke, New South Wales. The aircraft took off towards the west. After a flight of about 15 to 20 minutes, the aircraft returned overhead the airstrip. Based on the indicated wind, the pilot elected to conduct an approach to land towards the south.

When on final approach to land, at about 5 ft above ground level, the aircraft sank rapidly. The aircraft landed heavily and the nose wheel detached from the aircraft. The aircraft then bounced into the air, touched down for a second time, and dug into soft ground. The aircraft flipped over and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage (Figure 1). The pilot and two passengers sustained minor injuries.

Pilot comments

The pilot reported that the property had received about 100 mm of rain over a period of 2 weeks, which had stopped about 7 days prior to the incident. Cold weather in the intervening period had prevented the soil from drying. Prior to taking off, the pilot had driven over the runway surface and assessed the surface to be suitable for landing. However, below the runway surface, there was a soft layer of earth. This layer extended about 500 mm down and was not evident during the runway inspection.

The pilot was unsure what caused the aircraft to sink faster than usual. The wind was light and variable. The additional sink and high rate of descent combined with the soft surface led to the aircraft landing gear digging in and flipping the aircraft over.

Figure 1: Accident site of Cessna 182, VH-AHC

Source: Aircraft owner

Safety message

This incident highlights the importance of the identification and management of risks associated with unsealed airfields. Potential hazards such as changes in the runway surface following rain can be hard to detect. Changes in the runway surface can adversely affect the outcome of a hard landing.

The ATSB report regarding a similar incident is available on the ATSB website at AO-2015-038.

Aviation Short Investigations Bulletin - Issue 42

About this report Decisions regarding whether to conduct an investigation, and the scope of an investigation, are based on many factors, including the level of safety benefit likely to be obtained from an investigation. For this occurrence, a limited-scope, fact-gathering investigation was conducted in order to produce a short summary report, and allow for greater industry awareness of potential safety issues and possible safety actions. Publishing information  Released in accordance with section 25 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 Published by: Australian Transport Safety Bureau © Commonwealth of Australia 2015 Ownership of intellectual property rights in this publication Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this report publication is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. Creative Commons licence With the exception of the Coat of Arms, ATSB logo, and photos and graphics in which a third party holds copyright, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this publication provided that you attribute the work. The ATSB’s preference is that you attribute this publication (and any material sourced from it) using the following wording: Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau Copyright in material obtained from other agencies, private individuals or organisations, belongs to those agencies, individuals or organisations. Where you wish to use their material, you will need to contact them directly.